Featured Map for 11 March 2011:Airports Near Japanese Earthquake and Tsunamis

Yesterday's
magnitude 9.0 earthquake east of Sendai, Japan
triggered tsunamis which quickly innundated many coastal areas of Japan
and caused tsunami watches to be issues all around the Pacific Ocean.
News reports soon after the earthquake included
video of an airport being flooded
(updated video).
The early reports didn't identify the airport, at least not in English,
but using the epicenter initially reported by the USGS
(38.322°N 142.369°E, subsequently revised to 38.297°N 142.373°E) and
searching for nearby airports with 2800-meter runways
suggested Sendai
as the airport, confirmed by following the
Google Maps satellite
link on the airport page for Sendai and comparing the imagery with the video.
(Later news reports also confirmed that the airport was Sendai.)

Today's Featured Map shows the 13 airports with 2800-meter or longer
runways within 500 nautical miles of the earthquake's epicenter.
Also shown are 10-, 20-, and 30-minute times for tsunami impact based on the
600 mile per hour (970 km/hr) speed of a tsunami in open water.
The power of a tsunami as revealed by the videos is incredible;
hopefully the casualties from this disaster are fewer than the
videos suggest.

Information on this site may not be accurate or current and is not valid for flight planning or navigation. No warranty of fitness for any purpose is made or implied. Flight planning and navigation should only be done using official charts.